Machine for inserting elastic in knit fabric



Aug. 16, 1932.

K. HOWIE MACHINE FOR INSERTING ELASTIC IN KNIT FABRIC Filed May 8, 19314 Sheets-Sheet Aug. 16, 1932. K. HOWIE 1,871,851

MACHINE FOR INSERTING ELASTIC IN KNIT FABRIC Filed May 8, 1931 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Hill I H lnueniar:

Jfennei'h Jiowz'e,

,B y gauanam v M Patented Aug. 16, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEKENNETH HOWIE, OF NORBISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WILDMAN IMLFG.(10., OF NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA MACHINEFOR INSERTING ELASTIC IN KNIT FABRIC Application filed May 8, 1931.Serial No. 585,990.

The invention includes a machine for automatically inserting an elasticstrand into a rib knit fabric by simply laying it in successive coursesto the extent desired, and without knitting it in, no loops being formedfrom the elastic thread.

The invention is designed particularly for providing elastic portions ofthe garment which will serve the purpose of garters particularly inchildrens hose, though the invention is not limited in respect to theparticular goods produced.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying my invention.

Figure 1a shows parts of Flg. 1 1n 1noperative position.

Figs. 1b and 10 show parts of Fig. 1.

Figure 2 is an elevation of partof the machine embodying the invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of a part of the machine.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the cam set for the cylinder needles.

Figure 5 is an elevation of a part of the mechanism comprised in theinvention.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view of dial cam set and the needles andguide for the elastic thread.

Figure 7 is a diagramshowing the action of the needles in relation tothe guide for the elastic thread. 1

Figure 8 is a diagram of the fabric.

Figure 9 is a diagram showing the elastic thread laid in a course of ribfabric.

The machine illustrated has a fixed needle cylinder and a revolving cambox, but it will be understood that the invention is not limited to thistype as it may be embodied in amachine having fixed ncedle cams and arevolving needle carrier. 1 is the needle cylinder. 1a the revolvingcylinder cam box. 2 the dial and 2a the. revolving dial cams. The rubberstrand which is preferably of the type having the rubber encased in atextile wrapping is shown at- 3 which passes throughan opening 4 in aguide arm 5 attached to a sleeve 6 turnable about a post 7 fixed toabracket 8 which is attached by screws at 9 around the needle cylinder.

to the cylinder cam box which revolves This sleeve has an arm 10 at itslower end, operable by a cam 11 intermittingly turnable in the directionof the arrow :11 about the pivot bearing 12. In the position of theparts shown in Figure 1 the guide arm 5 for the elastic thread is in.its operative position close to the needle cylinder, and in fact itsinner end is substantially in contact with the verge of the dial so thatthe guide opening 4 is in proper position to feed the elastic strand tothe needles. The inner end of this arm has a depending flange having acam shaped outer face at 13 against which the upper ends of partlyelevated cylinder needles will ride so that said needle will be in frontof the end of the strand of elastic thread extending from the outlet endla of the guide opening to the clamp 14 revolving with the cam box. Thisis the condition when the arm 5 is first set inward to begin the feedingof the said thread tothe needles. The elevated cylinder needles whichare deflected outwardly at their upper ends to get into a plane on theoutside of the guide 4, 4a, and consequently on the outsideof theelastic strand will, as the guide revolves with the cam box in the arrowdirection 1 snap off of the trailing end 4a of the guide and engage andhold the end of the elastic strand, and as the movement of the cam boxcontinues in the arrow direction the end of the elastic, now gripped bythe elevated cylinder needles, will be drawn from the clamp 14 as saidclamp travels forward with't-he cam box.

The action of gripping or embracing the end of the elastic strand toinitiate the laying in of the said strand between the cylinder anddial-needles also may involve the advance of the dial needles d tooverlie the elastic yarn. This advance of the dial needles takes placeat the trailing end of the elastic yarn guide 4, 411, so that we havetwo needle actions at this point one of these being the deflectionoutwardly of the upper end of the elevated cylinder needles. to get in aplane outside the end portion of the elastic yarn and the other needleaction being the advance of the dial needles to overlie the said elasticthread. The action of the cylinder needles, as above indicated, mayinvolve a snapping action to grasp the end of the elastic thread as saidpartly elevated cylinder needles leave the trailing end of the camshaped elastic thread guide. Shortly after, the elastic thread isembraced by the needles, and by the snapping action of the cylinderneedles if this latter action is employed as above set forth, tension isapplied to the elastic thread so as to lay it in the fabric under propertension so that a smooth fabric is produced free from puckers. Forautomatically applying this tension and for automatically timing thisaction the tensioning means is controlled by a cam 16 turnable about theaxis 12 and moving with the cam 11 which controls the setting inwardlyto feeding position of the elastic thread feeding arm 5 under the actionof its spring 17. Figure 1 shows the cam 16 in position with the tensionapplied. This application takes place when the arm 18 of tensioncontrollingyoke 19 drops off of the end 16a following the drop 11a ofcam 11 which allows arm 10 to swing inwardly under tension of spring 17to set the guide arm 5 in feeding position. The dropping of arm 18 offfrom cam shoulder 16a releases the yoke- 19 and then the spring 20exerts its force and presses the grooved collar 21 which up to now hasbeen held retracted by the yoke and cam 16. This pressure on the collarsets it in towards the axial center of the machine and therefore thedisc 22 is set against the strand of elastic thread and presses the samebetween itself and the opposing friction disc 22a, thus exertingsufficient restraint to the free movement of said elastic thread toplace the same under the desired tension so that when the fabric assumesits prescribed diameter after leaving the needles and reducing from alarge to its small diameter, the elastic thread will correspondinglyrelax to prevent puckering of the fabric. The yoke 19 is at the upperend of a lever or arm 19a which may be made conveniently of a twistedflat piece of metal. This arm is pivotally mounted at 24 on a post 23fixed to and extending up from the bracket-'8 which is attached to androtates with the cam box. The arm 18 which bears on cam 16 is a part ofthe yoke arm 19a and is bent laterally from the lower end of the same.

The end portion of the elastic thread now having been laid in the fabricand gripped by the needles the revolution of the cam box with theelastic thread feeding finger proceeds to lay the said elastic thread inplace for any desired number of courses. The knitting of the regularyarn goes on at the ordinary feed and the elastic thread is encased bythe knitted web until at the prescribed time pattern mechanism raisesthe striker cam piece 24% into line with the arm 25. This striker camhas a fixed location. It is supported on a rod 26 mounted for verticalsliding movement on the fixed frame. 27 indicates a part of the leverwhich is operated by pattern mechanism for raising and lowering the saidstriker cam into and out of the path of the said arm 25 which revolveswith the cam box. This arm carries on its under side a pawl 25w whichoperates a ratchet wheel 28 one sixth of a revolution for each movementof the arm 25. et is connected with a gear wheel 29 which meshes with asmaller gear 30 which rotates the cams 11 and 16 before mentioned. Thismovement of the cam 11 retracts the guide 5 for the elastic thread byacting on the arm 10 and against the tension of the spring 17 to movethe arm 10 to the right, Fig. 1, and thus withdraw the yarn guide 5 withthe elastic thread from the needles. In this withdrawing action the saidelastic thread extending from its point of attachment to the fabric tothe retracted guide 5 will extend into the shears composed of a fixedblade 31 and a movable blade 32. These blades will be open at the momentnow being considered and they will straddle the strand of elastic threaddue to the fact that said shears are traveling around the needle bedwith the cam box. During this onward movement the cam 33 will berotated, it being attached to or formed with the cam 11, 11a, so as torotate therewith as a consequence, as above described, 0f the strikercam 24% being now in position to operate the arm 25. This cam 33consists of a rim or flange extending up from the main base portion 84:,said flange having an upward cam incline 35. This acts upon the arm 32aof the movable shear blade and lifts the same to cutthe elastic threadsoon after it is withdrawn from feeding position by the retraction ofthe guide arm 5. The rise of the movable shear blade not only cuts theelastic thread but tucks its free end between itself and the clamp blade14L so that this loose end will be firmly held until the elastic threadis again to be introduced with the fabric to be encased by the regularrib web and without being knitted or looped in.

The rotation of the central cam set about the pivot 12 as a consequenceof the movement of the arm 25 has another effect, namely, the relievingof the grip or pressure of the tension applying discs 22, 22a upon theelastic thread so that when the said thread is again introduced into thefabric, it at the outset will be free from tension and will remain sountil after the said thread is gripped by the snapping action of thepartly elevated cylinder needles upon leaving the cam 4, 4a.

This release of the pressure of disc 22 is effected by operating theyoke 19 to retract slightly the collar 21 against the tension of thespring 20. For this purpose cam incline 16b comes into play against thearm 18 at This ratch the lower end of the yoke lever to move said armtowards the center of the machine so that the upper or yoke end of saidlever will move away from the needle carrier. The parts will remain inthis position for the prescribed number of revolutions of the machinefor which the pattern mechanism is set, that is to say the clamp 14 willbe holding the loose end of the elastic thread extending through theretracted guide arm 5 thereto, and the tension on the said thread willbe off.

Now when the elastic thread is again to be introduced into the fabricthe striker cam 24 is again adjusted by the pattern mechanism into linewith the arm 25, which when operated will, through the pawl and ratchetand gearing, give the prescribed degree of rotary movement to thecentral cam set 11, 16, 33 so that arm 10 will drop off of abruptshoulder 11a, thus allowing spring 17 to set the guide arm 5 closeagainst the dial for directing the thread to the needle and to bring onthe snapping action of the cylinder needles upon the outer side of thesaid thread. The arm 32a of the movable shear blade will drop ofi ofabrupt should er 35a of cam rim 33, thus releasing the loose end of thethread and the tension on the thread will be applied when the arm 18 atthe lower end of the yoke lever drops ofi of ca1n shoulder 16a thusallowing spring 20 to press the disc 22 against the thread to exerciserestraint thereon.

The dial needles are advanced just after the cam 13 passes them by a cam37 in the dial cam, so that the elastic thread is covered by theseadvanced dial needles, which action together with the gripping of thethread by the partly advanced cylinder needles insures that the elasticthread will be properly placed and will be encased by the rib knitfabric. The regular dial needle advancing cam is of ordinary form shownat 38 and the dial stitch cam is shown at 39. The cylinder cam setincludes the advancing cam 40, regular stitch cam 41, the clearingcourse cam set 42 and 43 and a special cam 45 for partly elevating thoseneedles which are to be used for trapping the elastic thread by passingtheir upper ends on the outside of the cam 13, and then allowing them tosnap against the thread. The needles which are to be elevated part wayto pass on the outside of cam 13 are provided with long butts as shownat 44 to be acted on by the special cam 45, those needles which are topass under said cam 13 having ordinary length butts to engage the lowerlevel 15a of this special cam. About three or four of the long buttneedles may be used for trapping the elastic thread though the inventionis not limited in this respect and indeed most all the needles maytravelat substantially their normal or intermediate level except the fewwhich are lowered to allow the feed arm 5 carrying the cam 13 to swinginto feeding position. With the cam set as shown those needles havingthe short butts, after passing along the lower cam surface 45a will belifted to normal level bythe cam incline 46.

Referring to Fig. 4, the retracting cam 43 of the clearing course set isnormally positioned in a more elevated location than usual so as toavoid retracting the cylinder needles below their normal plane. Thissafeguards the maintenance of the insert thread at this point. The postof the advancing cam 42 of this clearing course set is adapted tooperate a lever 43w pivoted at 43a, said lever having contact at 43?)with the post of the retracting cam 43. When, therefore, the advancingcam portion 42 is raised, the retracting section 43 of this cam set willbe depressed to the position shown in dotted lines so that then thecylinder needles willbe retracted far enough to drop their stitches.

In Figure 4 the arrow accompanied by the word needles is intended toindicatethat there is a relative movement between the needles and thecam box as though the needles were moving in the direction of the arrow.

I claim: p

1. A knitting machine having means for feeding an elastic thread andmeans for operating needles to clamp the said thread in place to beembraced by the cylinder and dial loops, said feeding means and theneedles having relative movement to lay said thread in the courses,substantially as described.

2. A knitting machine according to claim 1, having means for operatingthe feeding means for automatically presenting said thread to andwithdrawing it from the needles.

3. A rib knitting machine having means for feeding an elastic thread toand withdrawing it from position where it will lay in the courseswithout vbeing knitted into the fabric, and means for automaticallyrestraining the free flow of said thread for stretching the same when itis being laid in the courses and for automatically relieving said threadfrom said restraint when it is withdrawn from the fabric and while it isbeing reintroduced to the fabric, substantially as described.

4. A.rib knitting machine having means for delivering an elastic threadto lay in the courses without being knitted in and for withdrawing saidthread from the courses, means for operating needles to grip the end ofthe thread when delivered to the machine and means for automaticallyapplying tension to the thread when laid into the courses and forautomatically releasing said thread from tension when withdrawn from thefab ric, substantially as described.

5. A rib knitting machine having means to intermittently deliver anelastic thread to lay in the courses, and to withdraw said thread fromthe fabric and means for automatically and intermittingl'y applyingtension to said elastic thread, the tension applying periods accordingsubstantially with only the periods of laying the elastic threads intothe fabric, substantially as described.

6. A rib knitting machine having means for feeding an elastic yarnthereto to lay in the courses without being knitted in, means foradvancing needles, means for deflecting said advanced needles to overliethe thread and for causing them to grip the thread while said feedingmeans lays the said thread in the courses, substantially as described.

7. A rib knitting machine having means for delivering an elastic threadto be laid in the courses, means for advancing cylinder needles, meansfor deflecting said advanced needles to overlie the thread and forallowing said advanced and deflected needles to snap back to normal fromtheir deflected position to grip the thread to hold the same while it isbeing laid in the courses.

8. A knitting machine according to claim 7 in which the means fordeflecting the cylinder needles consists of a cam member against whichthe upper ends of the needles ride to lie on the outside of the thread.said deflected needles when they drop off the cam member gripping thethread against a needle bed, substantially as described.

9. A rib knitting machine having means to feed an elastic thread to aneedle to be laid into the courses, means for advancing the needle,means for deflecting the advanced needle, said feeding means deliveringthe thread at the back of the advanced deflected needle to be grippedthereby when the needle assumes normal position, substantially asdescribed.

10. In a rib knitting machine means for advancing a. cylinder needle anda dial needle, means for'deflecting and thereafter releasing one of saidneedles when advanced, outwardly in relation to a thread clampingportion on the machine means for delivering an insert thread to be laidinto the courses at the back of the deflected needle and between thesame andsaid thread clamping portion, said deflected needle whenreleased clamping the thread between its back and said clamping portion,substantially as described.

11. In combination with a rib knitting machine, a cam piece, means foradvancing a needle to be deflected by said cam piece, said cam piecehaving a yarn guide eye for directing the yarn at the back of theadvanced deflected needle, so that said needle, when it assumes normalposition, will grip the thread, substantially as described.

12. In combination in a rib knitting machine, means for advancing acylinder needle, means for deflecting: said needle outwardly, and meansfor directing an insert thread at the back of the deflected needle,

said machine having a thread clamping portion cooperating with the backof the deflected needle when the latter is released from its deflectedposition to clamp the insert thread substantially as described.

13. In a machine according to claim 12, means for advancing a dialneedle to overlie the insert thread at the point of its introduction tothe fabric, substantially as described.

14. In combination with a rib knitting machine, an arm having a guidefor an insert thread, tension means for applying tension to said thread,a cutter and clamp for the thread, cam means for moving the said threadguide arm to and from the needles, and for-operating the tension meansto intermittently apply tension to the thread when it has beenintroduced into the fabric, and to release said tension when the yarnguide arm removes the thread, said cam means also controlling theoperation of the cutter, substantially as described.

15. In a. rib knitting machine according to claim 14, in which the camsfor operating the yarn guide arm, the tension means, and the cutters,are mounted upon a rotatable body, and means for rotating said bodyintermittingly, substantially as described.

16. In combination in a rib knitting machine, a guide arm for directingan insert thread to the needles, said arm having a cam portion fordeflecting outwardly a cylinder needle, means for advancing saidcylinder needle to engage said cam, whereby said needle is positionedfor allowing the thread to be delivered at its back, and when released,to assume normal position, will grip said thread, means forautomatically applying tension to the thread, when it has been grippedby the said needle, means for retracting the guide arm from the needles,and relieving said tension, and a cutter and clamp rendered operativewhen the yarn guide arm is retracted from the needles, substantially asdescribed.

- 17 In combination with a rib knitting machine, a guide arm to deliveran insert thread to the needles, tension means for the thread, a clutterand clamp means, a rotary cam member arranged upon a Vertical axis,means for operating said cam member intermittingly for moving the yarnguide arm to and from the needles, for applying and relieving thetension on the yarn, and for operating the cutter, substantially asdescribed.

18. In a rib knitting machine. a clearing course cam set in which theneedle lowering cam is set initially abnormally high and isautomatically adjusted into a retracted position when the advancing camof said set is adjusted to its advanced position.

19. A rib knitting machine having means to lay an insert thread in thecourses and a clearing course cam set in which the wee dle retractingcam is set initially abnormally high and is automatically adjusted toits needle retracting position when the advancing cam is set in positionto advance the needles for making the clearing course.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

KENNETH HOWIE.

